What is the correct way to wean off breast milk?

Sometimes mothers cannot breastfeed their children normally or wean older children for some reasons, but their milk supply is still sufficient. At this time, they should consider whether to stop weaning. However, there are many ways to stop weaning, especially for those who have been breastfeeding for about a year, they can stop weaning by themselves. But sometimes, if you consider stopping weaning for other reasons, you need to choose the correct method.

1. Natural weaning method

When new mothers plan to stop breastfeeding, it is best to choose more fitted or tighter underwear to inhibit milk secretion. The first thing to do is to reduce the number of times your baby sucks breast milk or stop your baby from sucking breast milk. Then try to eat less protein-rich foods in your daily life, which will help reduce milk secretion.

2. Food weaning method

(1) Scallion and white wine: When taking a bath at night, put some scallion and white wine in boiling water. Then use a towel soaked in scallion and white wine to warm both breasts and squeeze out the milk. Do this once a day for 3 days.

(2) Hawthorn malt drink: 10g malt, 3g hawthorn, 15g brown sugar. First, slice the hawthorn and fry the malt separately until they are charred. Then, add 1 bowl of water to the fried malt and hawthorn and boil them for 15 minutes to extract the juice. Then, add brown sugar to taste. This can relieve breast pain and milk stasis.

(3) Maltose: Barley malt is the safest, most effective, simple and practical method of weaning in traditional Chinese medicine. Malt can be used to stimulate lactation, not only alone, but also in combination with other drugs. Usually, those who are strong and have too much milk can use 60 to 120 grams of raw malt alone to stop lactation. Those who are weak and have little milk should use a slightly smaller dosage, or they can use fried malt, one dose a day, decocted in water, twice a day. You can also use 60 grams of raw malt and 12 grams of cicada molt, decocted in water; or 15 grams of raw loquat leaves, decocted in water; or 60 grams of fried malt, 30 grams of hawthorn, and 30 grams of Shenqu, decoct the soup and drink it as tea, one dose per day.

3. Medical weaning method

For new mothers who have abundant milk and want to stop producing milk quickly, they can use some medication to stop producing milk. You can do this by getting a milk-suppressing injection or taking milk-suppressing medicine. If you plan to have a second child in the future, it is not recommended to use medication to stop breastfeeding, as this may affect your milk supply in the future.

The above are some common methods to stop weaning. However, sometimes mothers may easily experience breast pain during the weaning process. At this time, you should consider expressing the milk by hand. Be careful not to express it completely, otherwise it will promote milk secretion. Try to reduce stimulation to the breasts in your life and avoid letting your baby breastfeed.